Larimer County understands the importance of the Wild & Scenic designation of the South Fork of the Poudre River and has worked with the US Forest Service to design a project that protects the values that contribute to the river's Wild & Scenic designation.
Larimer County Road & Bridge has designed the Project to minimize environmental and community impacts by:
Using Existing Infrastructure: The project will be located partially within an existing quarry.
Limiting the Project Footprint: The area of new disturbance will be limited to approximately 9 acres.
Standardizing Work Hours: Operations will be limited to standard weekday business hours.
Prioritizing the Viewshed: The project site is designed to be obscured from Pingree Park Road and other key points of interest, such as Stormy Peaks trail, CSU Mountain Campus, Denny's Point, and Tom Bennett Campground.
Our specific commitments to minimize impacts are shown below.
Project-wide Operations
Limit quarry operations to standard weekday business hours.
Manage site access and limit employee traffic to minimize disruption to nearby roads.
Soil & Surface Water Protection
Larimer County commits to the following practices to limit erosion and protect surface water near the site:
Apply best management practices to control dust and erosion from wind and water.
Develop and adhere to a Temporary Erosion Control Plan & Stormwater Management Plan to prevent sediment from leaving the site and protect downstream water quality.
Design and maintain stormwater control features to safely manage stormwater during storm events.
Salvage and store topsoil for reuse during reclamation.
Stabilize and seed soil stockpiles during operations.
After operations are complete, regrade highwall slopes to support long-term site stability.
After operations are complete, reclaim the quarry walls using salvaged topsoil and seeding with grasses and forbs.
Vegetation Management
Larimer County will minimize impacts on vegetation at and near the site by:
Reestablishing native grasses and forbs in reclaimed wildlife habitat areas.
Managing noxious weeds throughout operations and reclamation.
Chipping removed trees for reuse as organic material during site restoration.
Bald eagles overlooking Larimer County's Strang Pit aggregate site
Wildlife Protection
Larimer County is committed to protecting wildlife that frequent the Project area by doing the following:
Suspending operations between December 1 and April 30 to minimize impacts to migrating wildlife.
Conducting nesting bird surveys before any ground disturbance. If a nest is found, a disturbance buffer will be applied, and the area will not be disturbed until the young have fledged the nest.
Coordinating with Colorado Parks & Wildlife regarding nearby raptor nests.
Installing wildlife-friendly perimeter fencing.
Using bear-resistant trash receptacles onsite.
Visual & Site Restoration
Larimer County has designed the Project in a way that obscures visibility from Pingree Park Rd. and other key observation points. These measures include maintaining a forest buffer around the site, limiting stockpile heights at the site, and offsetting the site horizontally and vertically from nearby recreational features such as the Stormy Peaks Trail and Denny's Point.
The Project is partially located within an existing quarry area that was never reclaimed. Following operations, quarry highwalls will be graded and revegetated to encourage vegetation growth. The quarry floor will be reclaimed as a graveled surface for CSU's future use for Mountain Campus activities.
Current conditions - existing unreclaimed quarry
Rendering of the same view reclamation. Note: vegetated quarrywalls and CSU Mountain Campus overflow area
Potential Impacts
Larimer County hired an environmental consultant to review all potential impacts from the proposed Project. Although this Project is not located on federal land and is not subject to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), environmental analyses of impacts were implemented in general accordance with NEPA to ensure a robust analysis.
Environmental resources were evaluated for each phase of the Project and were compared to existing conditions and the Project Alternative (hauling aggregate from the County's Strang Pit in the Front Range). The following Project-related impacts were identified:
No Impact
Air
No Impact when compared to the Project Alternative of hauling aggregate from the County's Strang Pit in the Front Range. Equipment and staff from the Strang Pit would be moved to the CR 44H site to operate the proposed quarry. At a County scale, air emissions would be the same because the operations will not change; only the location. In addition, by using a local aggregate source, Larimer County significantly shortens hauling distance. Shorter hauling distances would generate fewer greenhouse gases compared to hauling materials from the Front Range.
Cultural Resources
No Impact. No cultural resources were identified in the Project area.
Temporary Minor Impacts
Recreation
Minor, temporary impacts.
No direct impact on recreational activities such as hiking, fishing, picnicking, camping, summer camps, retreats, and other similar outdoor activities.
Daytime quarry operations may result in short-term noise or visual effects that could affect the use of nearby trails and campgrounds.
Sound
Minor, temporary impacts during active quarry operations.
Quarrying operations will be perceptible to people at nearby facilities (CSU Mountain Campus, Tom Bennett Campground), but the noise levels at those locations would meet residential thresholds for daytime exposures (per Colorado Revised Statute § 25-12-103).
Traffic
Minor, temporary impacts
Weekday traffic may increase up to 3.7% on Pingree Park Rd. during quarry operations. The increase is related to Larimer County staff traveling to and from the project site on weekdays. The Project will not operate on the weekends.
Visual
Minor, temporary impacts
Quarry activities would not be visible from Pingree Park Rd. or nearby key observation points (Stormy Peaks Trail, Denny's Point, CSU Mountain Campus, Tom Bennett Campground), but may be visible from some distant, high-elevation locations.
Mixed Temporary and Permanent Impacts
Soils
Permanent, but minor, impacts to 6 acres of the quarry floor that will be converted to a gravel-surfaced staging, storage, and outdoor classroom area for CSU Mountain Campus use.
Temporary impacts to the remainder of the site soils, which will be revegetated and reclaimed to wildlife habitat after quarrying is complete.
Surface Water
Permanent, but minor impacts to 6 acres of the quarry floor that will be converted to a gravel-surfaced staging, storage, and outdoor classroom area for CSU.
Temporary impacts at the remainder of the site, which will be revegetated after quarrying is complete.
Changes in stormwater discharge from the site would be minimal at the watershed scale and would not measurably affect the South Fork of the Cache la Poudre River. Any water leaving the site would flow through historical flow paths off-site, to the roadside ditch, to two culverts that convey flows under Pingree Park Road. The total distance that water would travel from the site to the South Fork of the Poudre River is 3,000 ft.
Small, long-term increases in runoff would remain after the Project is complete, due to conversion of 6 acres of the quarry floor to a gravel-surfaced staging, storage, and outdoor classroom area for CSU Mountain Campus use.
Wildlife
Permanent impacts to 6 acres of Lodgepole Pine and Aspen forest wildlife habitatthat will be converted to a staging, storage, and outdoor classroom area for CSU Mountain Campus use.
Temporary impacts to wildlife habitat in the remainder of the site due to the displacement of common wildlife species during operations. Wildlife is expected to return to the site following reclamation.
No protected species or sensitive riparian habitats exist in the Project area.
Vegetation
Permanent impacts to 6 acres of Lodgepole Pine and Aspen forest that will be converted to a staging, storage, and outdoor classroom area for CSU Mountain Campus use.
Temporary impacts at the remainder of the site, which will be revegetated after quarrying is complete.
Per the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Larimer County will provide a reasonable accommodation to qualified individuals with a disability who need assistance. Services can be arranged with at least seven business days' notice. Please email us at [email protected] or by calling (970) 498-5650 or Relay Colorado 711. "Walk-in" requests for auxiliary aids and services will be honored to the extent reasonable but may be unavailable if advance notice is not provided.
